Kyroptera
Traitor Legion Badge]] The Kyroptera served as the Primarch Konrad Curze's most trusted advisors and confidants within the Night Lords Legion during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy in the late-30th and early 31st Millennia. This cadre consisted of seven chosen Captains of the Legion, and the Kyroptera existed outside the rest of the VIIIth Legion's regular command and control structure. Together, the Kyroptera functioned as the soul of the Night Lords, supporting their Primarch and steering the Legion's temperament and decisions. Following the death of their Primarch at the hands of the Callidus Temple Assassin M'Shen after the end of the Heresy, the Night Lords Legion dissolved into various Chaos Space Marine warbands. By the late 41st Millennium, the VIIIth Legion had deteriorated in both its numbers and its capabilities. It is highly doubtful that the Kyroptera still exist, as there is no formal command structure within the current structure of the surviving Night Lords Traitor Legion. Notable Kyroptera Members *'Jago "Sevatar" Sevatarion '- Jago Sevatarion, known also as Sevatar, "the Condemned," and the "Prince of Crows," was the First Captain of the Night Lords Legion. He was also the Commander of the Atramentar, the elite Terminator-armoured unit of the VIIIth Legion's formidable 1st Company and officer of the Kyroptera, the Night Haunter's most trusted advisors and confidants within the Night Lords Legion, during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy in the late 30th and early 31st Millennia. A native of Nostramo, Sevatar served as Equerry to the Primarch Konrad Curze and was known as one of the most lethal warriors of the entire Legiones Astartes, his name and skill as well known as those of Ezykyle Abaddon of the Sons of Horus, Corswain of the Dark Angels, Chapter Master Raldoron of the Blood Angels or Lord Commander Eidolon of the Emperor's Children. Sevatar was possibly killed during the Battle of Terra. *'Malithos Kuln' - Former Captain of the 9th Company and a member of the Kyroptera during the Great Crusade and the early days of the Horus Heresy. Kuln was one of only three surviving Kyroptera Captains after the disastrous ambush carried out against the Night Lords Legion by the Dark Angels during the closing days of the Thramas Crusade. As the Night Haunter lay mortally wounded following a duel with his fellow Primarch Lion El'Jonson, Kuln and his fellow Captain Herec advocated the reorganisation of their scattered Legion to strike back at the upstart Loyalists, for blood demanded blood. First Captain Sevatar was disinclined to agree with this audacious plan, and instead enacted a plan of his own, having Captains Kuln and Herec murdered in cold blood by the First Captain's own Atramentar Terminators. *'Naraka, "The Bloodless"' - Naraka was the Captain of the 13th Company during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy and a member of the Kyroptera. Known as "The Bloodless" by his Battle-Brothers, he earned his sobriquet during the Imperial Compliance of the world designated Eight-Hundred-and-Nine Five, the fifth conquest of the 809th Expeditionary Fleet. The 13th Company took an entire world without shedding a single drop of blood, through means few of the VIIIth Legion’s other commanders were allowed to know. When questioned on it, Naraka always refused to comment. His company swore an oath of secrecy about this campaign, which has remained inviolate and unbroken in the many years since. *'Var Jahan' - Var Jahan was the Captain of the 27th Company and a member of the Kyroptera during the Horus Heresy. Jahan was Terran-born, like most of the original Legionaries of the Night Lords. He was an older warrior, famously cautious, more of a tactician than a murderer. He had served the VIIIth Legion since the earliest days of the Great Crusade, when the Night Lords first took to the stars. Var Jahan was one of only three surviving Kyroptera Captains after the disastrous ambush carried out against the Night Lords Legion by the Dark Angels during the closing days of the Thramas Crusade. As the Night Haunter lay mortally wounded following a duel with his fellow Primarch Lion El'Jonson, Var Jahan's fellow Captains Herec and Kuln advocated the reorganisation of their scattered Legion to launch a counter-strike at the upstart Loyalists, for blood demanded blood. First Captain Sevatar was disinclined to agree with the pair's audacious plan, and instead enacted a plan of his own, having Captains Herec and Kuln murdered in cold blood by the First Captain's own Atramentar Terminators. Var Jahan was spared, for he was smart enough to detect that something was wrong before the Atramentar teleported into the council chamber to carry out their bloody deed. For showing intuitive foresight, Sevatar let Jahan live and remain as a member of the Kyroptera. *'Kheron Ophion, "The Coward"' - Captain of the 39th Company and a member of the Kyroptera during the Horus Heresy, Kheron Ophion had failed to distinguish himself beyond the base level of honour inherent in a century of solid, trustworthy service. All of his records -- not that the VIIIth Legion was particularly meticulous in keeping them -- spoke of a veteran Nostraman officer best-served by front-line duty, leading his men from the vanguard, and given only moderate responsibility in a wider campaign. And yet, during the VIIIth Legion's disastrous encounter with the Dark Angels fleet during the closing days of the Thramas Crusade, Ophion had ordered his warship Shroud of Eventide to remain on-station, fighting the Dark Angels back from their ambush, aiding Sevatar and the Night Lords' flagship Nightfall as he fought to buy time for the weaker warships to flee. In a Legion that considered tactical cowardice one of the finer and most amusing virtues, a rare sign of bravery was always worth investigating -- and rewarding. *'Cel Herec' - Former Captain of the 43rd Company and a member of the Kyroptera during the Great Crusade and the early days of the Horus Heresy. Herec was one of only three surviving Kryoptera Captains after the disastrous ambush carried out against the Night Lords Legion by the Dark Angels during the closing days of the Thramas Crusade. As the Night Haunter lay mortally wounded following a duel with his fellow Primarch Lion El'Jonson, Herec and his fellow Captain Kuln advocated the reorganisation of their scattered Legion to strike back at the upstart Loyalists, for blood demanded blood. First Captain Sevatar was disinclined to agree with this audacious plan, and instead enacted a plan of his own, having Captains Herec and Kuln murdered in cold blood by the First Captain's own Atramentar Terminators. *'Krukesh' - Captain of the 103rd Company and a member of the Kyroptera during the Horus Heresy, Krukesh was considered to be a member of the VIIIth Legion from blood to bone. Taken as a youth from Terra, he rose to his captaincy by a murder duel, taking his former commander’s head. This barbarous custom had been adopted by the Night Lords from the hive-gangs of the Nostraman hive-city of Nostramo Quintus. Like his fellow Battle-Brothers whose skin had whitened and whose eyes had blackened after being implanted with their Primarch's gene-seed, Krukesh was gaunt to the point of emaciation. Known as "The Pale" by his brethren, his skin was pale past anything resembling ill-health, edging on the preternatural. He appeared as a starved cadaver in midnight ceramite, black-on-black eyes burning from sunken eye sockets. Krukesh and First Captain Sevatar shared a long history, as Sevatar owed the pale Astartes debts that made the First Captain uneasy. *'Tovac Tor, "Lackhand"' - Tor was Captain of the 114th Company. Known as "Lackhand," he had entered the VIIIth Legion at the same time as Sevatar; as children they had run together in the same Nostraman gang. Tor earned his epithet from a malformed birth, as he had been born with only one hand. Despite the deformity, he had passed the physical trials required to be accepted into the VIIIth Legion, and immediately been fitted with an augmetic graft. The cybernetic enhancement never behaved as reliably as a natural limb -- the Apothecaries had told Tovac that his malformed arm lacked a fully developed musculature, so his augmetic hand would always be a touch erratic. *'Alastor Rushal, "The Raven"' - Rushal was a Night Lords Captain without a company to command and a member of the Kyroptera. Terran-born, but not an Astartes born of VIIIth Legion gene-stock, Rushal still wore the Power Armour of the XIXth Legion, cast in cold black, edged in dented white trimming. The noble emblem of his former Legion, the Raven Guard, had been ritually broken by blows from a hammer, wielded by his own hand. A former Captain of the Raven Guard's 89th Company, he was known by the Night Lords as "The Raven." It is not clear whether Rushal joined the Night Lords of his own volition or was captured. But what is abundantly clear is that he became a part of the VIIIth Legion following the Drop Site Massacre of Istvaan V. Apparently he also suffered torture at the hands of First Captain Sevatarion, who brutally marked the warrior with vicious scars across most of his body as well as removing his tongue. All trappings of rank were gone from his ebon-coloured armour, scratched away during the massacre unleashed on Istvaan V's Urgall Depression. Like the Night Lords, his face was pale and his eyes were dark. Unlike the warriors he stood amongst, his helm lacked the bat-winged crest sported by the VIIIth Legion's inner circle of Captains. Sources *''Shadows of Treachery'' (Anthology) edited by Christian Dunn and Nick Kyme, "Prince of Crows" by Aaron Dembski-Bowden Category:K Category:Chaos Category:Chaos Space Marines Category:History Category:Night Lords Category:Space Marines